Another film I caught on Sky+ the other day. Was familiar with the basic plot, so I fast-forwarded through the ‘set-up’, because I didn’t particularly want to watch the death of the family (which is the fuel for the vengeance cycle) – isn’t it strange how I find some things much too painful to watch (deaths of children) but some things (eg Evil Dead) don’t reach me at all. Hmm.

I was struck by the mini-community of misfits which help the hero. Could read it through a ‘selfish-gene’/killer ape analysis, which simply hymns the alpha male; but could also see it as a miniature parable of the kingdom, a vision of the church.

But the film was bubblegum. Not worth watching unless you particularly like comic-book adaptations (which I do) – and even then, this isn’t one of the better ones. Travolta is crap in it.